Techniques Video Library

Students look for recent events or developments in the real world that are related to their coursework, then analyze these current affairs to identify the connections to course material in entries that they write in a journal.

Paper Seminar provides a framework for meaningful discussion centered on student work.

Quick Write is a learning assessment technique where learners respond to an open-ended prompt.

Fact or Opinion encourages students to critically evaluate information by questioning what they read.

Update Your Classmate is a short writing activity where students explain what they learned in a previous class session to set the stage for new learning.

The instructor provides students with a provocative statement and prompts them to locate details, examples, or data in their lecture notes to support the statement.

In Dyadic Essays, students: 1). complete a content unit, identify a central question, and draft an answer to that question, 2). exchange questions with a peer and prepare responses, and 3). pairs read and compare the model and in-class answers.

When using IRA’s, students complete a written response to a reading assignment that includes three components: 1) Insights, 2) Resources, and 3) Application.

A Background Knowledge Probe is a short, simple, focused questionnaire that students fill out at the beginning of a course or start of a new unit that helps teachers identify the best starting point for the class as a whole.

A Frame is a template of sentence stems that provides the shape of a short essay, but not the content. Students complete the sentences, expressing their ideas in their own words, but doing so within a clear and organized framework.

In Letters, students assume the identity of an important person in your discipline and write a letter explaining their thoughts on an issue, theory, or controversy to another famous person who holds a different perspective.

For a Class Book, individual students work together to plan and ultimately submit a scholarly essay or research paper. Then all students’ papers are published together.